MEDIA ADVISORY: TFW Sunshine list needed to protect Canadian workers

Leaders from major Alberta unions call for greater transparency for guest worker program

EDMONTON – Lists of employers who have been approved to hire workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) obtained through access to information requests have been a primary source for Canadians and journalists to uncover details about the program. The officials overseeing these requests have recently imposed stringent new guidelines that have led to up to half those lists being redacted.

“We don’t know — and as the government closes ranks around access to information with respect to TFWs, we may never know — how many Canadians are being displaced by the Temporary Foreign Worker program,” AFL president Gil McGowan said.

What:At their quarterly executive council meeting, the leaders of the Alberta Federation of Labour are calling for a sunshine list to expose abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

Who:The executive council of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which includes leaders from most of Alberta's major unions, including Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), Iron Workers, United Food & Commercial Workers Union Canada (UFCW), United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), and Unifor.